Sometimes Goodbye
by SawyerAfterMe27
Summary: Waaaayyyy back from season 3. Peyton goes down into a black hole, Ellie's death taking its tole on her. Mainly Breyton... It's kinda sad.
1. Chapter 1

Brooke arrived outside of Peyton's house, eyes already resting on the blonde's bedroom window.

Something was wrong.

For hours, Brooke had been trying to reach Peyton to lure (or force) her out of the house. The blonde had somewhat withdrawn from the world and disappeared into the depths of her red and angry room, not coming out for much more than school. Sometimes even that didn't happen. Still, she was reachable via cell phone, but only with Brooke. If Lucas, Mouth, Haley, or anyone besides a very particular brunette called, Peyton wouldn't pick up.

Now, Brooke couldn't even get a hold of her.

As the brown-eyed girl approached the front door, she dialed Peyton's number again. There was no answer.

"Peyton?" she called out loud, hanging up her phone. She wondered if maybe she was asleep, but discarded the thought almost immediately after she had conjured it up. Knowing Peyton, the blonde probably hadn't slept for days.

Brooke pushed on the door, a multitude of other possibilities for why Peyton wasn't responding flooding into her head.

"Peyton?" she called, looking around. The house looked like a natural disaster had rampaged through. Probably it was a tornado, maybe a hurricane.

Brooke called Peyton again, and still there was no response. And it wasn't like the blonde wasn't home; her car was parked outside.

"How deep of a sleep can you be in?" Brooke whispered. She climbed the stairs up to Peyton's bedroom, sensing something off. The stairwell was absolutely silent, no music from Peyton's turntable spilling out into it. This in itself was alarming, considering Peyton's emotional state. Her music, along with Brooke, always seemed to be her support system when things in her life went awry. But now not even a CD spun in it's player. There was just nothing.

At the top of the steps, Brooke tried Peyton one more time before rounding the corner.

"Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, I swear today I'm going to-" It was as if some beast had punched her in the gut and she doubled over, her eyes unable to look away from the expanse that was Peyton's bed. Her heart stopped and restarted over and over and over, dismantling her breathing pattern and stopping the thoughts in her head. There, on the bed, lay an unconscious Peyton on her back. A broken bottle of alcohol on the floor next to an empty pill bottle supported the whole scene, Peyton's still-bleeding wrists the accent. The blonde's eyes stared lifelessly up at her ceiling, the natural sparkle gone from them.

Brooke looked down at her phone, not remembering having dialed 911. She held the phone to her chest, not able to bring it all the way up to her ear, and crawled a short foot closer to the bed. She was paralyzed after that.

"Tree Hill Emergency," a man on the other end answered. His voice broke the silence of the room and Brooke burst into hysterics.

"Please… My friend, she… She's dead she's dying she's drunk or… I… there's blood and she's not… Help me, please! Help…"


	2. Chapter 2

Lucas was the first to get to the hospital.

"Lucas…" Brooke breathed, her tears never having dried since after the blurry trip to this place. She burrowed as deep into Lucas' arms as she could, trying desperately to dismiss the pain. Lucas held her tightly.

"Have they said anything?" he asked, not letting Brooke go. The brunette shook her head, not willing to move either.

"No," she whispered, a ghost's voice. She went quite for a long time, the frantic thoughts in her head muted, as if they were under water. She couldn't compute anything. "There's no way she's gonna make it…"

"Brooke, don't-"

"No. You didn't see her," Brooke snapped viciously. The sudden venom in her voice was startling, and the two separated for a split second before reattaching to each other. But Brooke couldn't stay in her boyfriend's arms after that, Peyton's image burning through the backs of her eyes. "There was blood everywhere!" she cried. "…and her eyes…. God, Luke her eyes they we just…." Brooke fell against a near-by wall, leaning her head back and staring unseeingly up at the bright white ceiling of the waiting room. She slumped ungracefully to the floor, her knees curled to her chest. Lucas knelt down beside her. "I can't lose her." She breathed.

There were suddenly new footsteps in the room, and Lucas looked up away from Brooke's face.

"Haley, Nathan…" Lucas started, not getting up to greet his friends. They stopped once they were a few inches away, smiling weakly at Brooke once the brunette finally looked up to acknowledge them.

"Have you heard anything?" Haley asked, her eyes continuously darting back to Brooke as she waited for Lucas to answer her question.

"…Not since they got her here."

* * *

A doctor emerged from around the corner.

"Davis?" he called gently. His voice was comforting, warm. "Brooke Davis?" The group of four, particularly said brunette, all looked over in the direction of the voice. Brooke finally stood up. "Ms Davis, Peyton has made it awfully difficult for us to reverse what she's done. Difficulty however does not mean impossibility, though. She had blood alcohol levels high above the legal limit for driving, and she overdosed on what we found to be ibuprofen. Combine that with the amount of blood lost from her wrists-"

"But she's okay?" Brooke asked impatiently, breathing deeply to fight back the new wave of tears. The doctor nodded, frowning a little.

"She'll live," he said. "But she's far from okay."

"Can I see her?"

"I'm sorry but only close family is permitted to visit, considering her condi-"

"Look," Brooke started, the tears dying down behind her lids. She was not about to put up with this crap. "My best friend tried to kill herself today for reasons you won't even be able to understand, one of which I can name. Her mother just died a few days ago of breast cancer, and her dad's never around. So, with that in mind, not to mention that she doesn't have any siblings, I _am_ her family. Now if you don't let me see _my_ Peyton Sawyer _right_ now, I will have lawsuits all _over_ this hospital and I promise you it will _not_ be pretty." A few feet away, Nathan, Haley and Lucas stared at the back of Brooke's head in shock, surprised by the sudden ferocity Brooke was displaying. They decided to keep their distance until the doctor gave her permission to see Peyton… Assuming he would after such a threat.

The doctor pointed Brooke in the direction of Peyton's room.


	3. Chapter 3

Walking through the door before her son, Karen let a quiet sigh escape her lips.

"You were right," she said over her shoulder. She stepped further into the room to let Lucas in.

"I told you," he said lightly. They were referring to Brooke, who was knocked out at Peyton's bedside. She somehow had lowered the guard rail on that side of the bed so that she could lay awkwardly forward, her head buried in Peyton's neck. She, like Peyton, was out cold.

Karen's eyebrows knitted together as she noticed the bloodied bandages around Peyton's wrists. She didn't know what to think or what to feel… It wouldn't compute.

"Did… did Brooke find Peyton this way?" she asked, her voice just above a light murmur. Lucas nodded, looking down.

"She said she'd been trying to get a hold of Peyton all day and finally she just drove over there and…" Karen's heart ached for the blonde girl unconscious in the hospital bed, but it also went out to Brooke, and Lucas. She leaned into his shoulder.

"Is it because of Ellie?" she asked, peeking at Peyton. Lucas nodded, assuming he was right. He obviously hadn't been there and wasn't in Peyton's head… But he figured that that was the case. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her eyes misting over. Lucas rested his chin on his mom's head and the two were silent for a long time. He watched Peyton and Brooke, unable to imagine the magnitude of feeling whirling around in her heart. He blinked slowly.

"She'll be okay," he said finally. And while this statement too seemed feasible, it was another he couldn't back with guarantee. And the weight of this reality settled deep in his heart as he looked at Peyton, unconscious, hooked up to 10 plus wires and tubes and a machine or two, monitoring her blood flow and heart rate, her brain activity and her breathing pattern. But he wanted to believe that it would be okay, that Peyton would pull through this just like everything else. "I know she'll be okay."

* * *

"Should we wake her?" Haley asked, turning to Lucas. The blue-eyed boy jumped, looking around the room groggily. "Aw, Luke, maybe you should go home," Haley offered, seeing how tired Lucas was. It was nearing 2 in the morning, countless hours since they had first arrived.

"I can't," Lucas said, exhaustion obvious in the tone of his voice. He blinked hard, rubbing his face. "What if something happens?" Haley looked down at Lucas, really feeling for him. She knew, even now, that there was still love for Peyton in his heart and was sure that there always would be, despite Brooke. That said, she also could imagine what this was doing to him, her own feelings of grief aside. Haley reached a hand out, resting it on Lucas' shoulder. She rubbed it gently, trying to soothe her friend.

"You need sleep," she said to him. She looked over to Peyton and Brooke, both of whom were still out. Brooke's arm had snaked protectively around the limp blonde beside her in her sleep. "She'll be okay, Luke," Haley said. Lucas looked up at her. "Plus," she added, "Brooke's got her. You couldn't ask for a better guardian than that." Haley offered Lucas her other hand. "C'mon," she said. Lucas took his friend's hand in his own and used it to help pull himself up, and he walked over to Peyton's bed. Haley followed him.

Lucas looked down at Peyton's face and really saw it for the first time in days. Her make-up was streamed and dried on her skin and there were marks on her neck. He blinked slowly, swallowing hard.

"I understand what she's feeling," he said. Haley flinched unnoticeably, knowing what Lucas meant by his words. The topic of Keith was still a large open wound for many. "But suicide… I-" Haley bit her lip, the emotions hitting her hard. She fought back tears, wanting to stay strong for Lucas. She rested her head against his shoulder, exhaustion hitting her now too. Lucas put an arm around her, hugging her, and she sighed.

"How did everything get like this?"

* * *

Brooke work up the next day alone in the room with Peyton. She sat up, a jolt of pain splitting through her neck and back as she straightened out; she had been in the same unnatural sleeping position all night.

Rubbing her eyes and yawning, the brunette stretched.

"Good morning, Miss Davis," an over-cheerful nurse said upon entering the room. It was in that moment that she finally understood why Peyton had always hated extremely happy people. "I'm just here to check up on Peyton and make sure everything's running correctly. I'll be out of your way shortly." Brooke stood up.

_How in hell did I let this happen?_ She wondered. _Ellie died- I should've been with Peyton every single day. I never should have left her alone…_ Brooke felt a pain welling up in her chest and she knew the tears weren't far behind. She wanted Peyton to wake up. She wanted to see those big green eyes and watch the blonde's lips curl into a happy smile. She wanted to hear Peyton's voice, to hear her laugh…

"She'll wake up, right?" Brooke asked suddenly, not quite making eye contact with the nurse. The older woman looked at Brooke, sympathizing for her. She nodded slowly, unsure.

"She'll be fine," she said. "The doctors tell me she'll probably wake up today, maybe tomorrow." Brooke nodded quickly, the tears finally winning.

"Thank you," she whimpered, before turning away.


End file.
